An overall picture of the background, development and technical advances made by the motion picture industry through the years. Includes Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, Al Jolson, John Barrymore and others.


This movie is part of the collection: Prelinger Archives

Production Company: RKO Radio Pictures, Inc
Sponsor: The Academy Of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences
Audio/Visual: sound, B&W
Keywords: need keyword

Creative Commons license: Public Domain

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Reviewer: ERD. - - June 11, 2010
Subject: Interesting but dated
Interesting, but a lot has happened since this documentary has been made. This copy is not clear

Reviewer: lwilton - - February 6, 2005
Subject: Interesting look at movies by those that made them.
This is a great little film about films. When it was made it doubtless fascinated the millions that would have seen it on a Saturday morning down at the local movie house.

Few people lived in Hollywood then, or even had a chance to see a picture of it that wasn't a carefully composed (and highly fake) publicity shot for a movie or studio. But everyone was fasinated by movies, and most everyone was fascinated by how things were made.

This film is probably inappropriate for modern audiences, since it talks about how things are made, rather than concentrating as it should on celebrity hairstyles.

Reviewer: lwilton - - February 6, 2005
Subject: Interesting look at movies by those that made them
This is a great little film about films. When it was made it doubtless fascinated the millions that would have seen it on a Saturday morning down at the local movie house.

Few people lived in Hollywood then, or even had a chance to see a picture of it that wasn't a carefully composed (and highly fake) publicity shot for a movie or studio. But everyone was fasinated by movies, and most everyone was fascinated by how things were made.

This film is probably inappropriate for modern audiences, since it talks about how things are made, rather than concentrating as it should on celebrity hairstyle interviews.

Reviewer: Spuzz - - November 16, 2003
Subject: Let's Not.
Fairly disappointing film which promises us something special with a great beginning, with film clips of classic movies (well, 3) and some great looking movie houses.But then meanders and starts discussing hoe film is made and so forth. I sorta wished it would be an overview of what was coming in the series that was promised, rather then boring us with chemical processes.

Reviewer: Christine Hennig - - May 27, 2003
Subject: Let's Go to the Movies
The Motion Picture Academy made a series of films in the 50s showing how movies were made. This was the first of that series. It gives a brief history of movies and shows us some of the raw materials of film stock. It doesn't go into too much other detail, leaving that for later films in the series. Still, there are some interesting images in this, especially of old-time movie theatres.
Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: **. Weirdness: **. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***.